Smith & Wesson 642 vs 638

This is a discussion on Smith & Wesson 642 vs 638 within the Defensive Carry Guns forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Originally Posted by semperfi.45
With practice the Airweight's trigger can be staged to a single action shot.
This^^^^
I can shoot my j frames slow ...

For self defense, cocking a revolver is generally a bad idea. The fact that the 442 can't be cocked is a benefit, since it makes it impossible for a prosecutor to argue that you cocked the gun and then accidentally shot someone (self defense is not available as a legal defense if you are charged with negligently shooting someone).

Back when police departments still issued revolvers, some issued double action only guns for just this reason.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I respect yours, but I see a lot of this type of rationale here on this site where someone attempts to look into a "crystal ball" and determine the mind set of prosecutors and lawyers after a hypothetical shooting and determine what potential mistakes have been made by the shooter when there are so many variables and circumstances to consider that its really useless and absurd to attempt to do it.

You could go to trial in different states or even counties or cities within a state and get several different verdict depending on where the trial was held, make up of the jury at the time, and most importantly who the prosecutor is (liberal and anti gun, or conservative and pro gun) and how good your attorney is a doing his job, so again its really useless to surmise on outcomes for the most part, and a J Frame with a hammer ( cocked or not) is no more likely or less likely to get you convicted of a criminal shooting unless it was a “bad shooting” anyway.

I don't buy this arguement for a moment. An 'accidental' shoot is an accidental shoot...period.
If you are properly defending yourself because of a threat, you have no worries about whether or not you cocked your hammer first.

It's happened before. Look up the Luis Alvarez case (it's in the Ayoob Files book). He was a Miami police officer who was falsely alleged to have cocked his revolver before shooting a suspect. If it was intentional, it would have been a good shoot, but the DA (Janet Reno) accused him of negligently shooting the suspect and put him on trial for manslaughter. He was eventually acquitted, but he was suspended for fourteen months and an had to go through an eight week trial. There are several other examples of criminal charges involving false accusations of an accidental shooting in a self defense situation, not to mention countless civil suits.

There was recently a good discussion of this on the Pro Arms podcast, where Massad Ayoob does quite a good job of explaining why prosecutors and plaintiff's lawyers pursue this sort of theory in an effort to get convictions and civil judgments.

Well, shrouded vs. hammerless, I prefer the latter. The 638 has a pleasant feel to it although the design has always left me feeling somewhat perplexed. I never felt comfortable pulling the hammer back with the skimpy pad of my thumb. Likewise, I feel the shroud makes cleaning more difficult. As a LEO when revolvers were standard issue, I can shoot DA or SA without much compromise. As for CC, I prefer DAO.
Regards,

I have both, but carry my 638. the reason is that i seem to shoot it better than the 642. There's a slight difference in the feel of the grip that seems to give me more control. Others will have different results.

Some of us use our firearms as CCW's for more than just "bad guys" of the two legged variety. Having the option to thumb the hammer back to make a more precise shot than the typical com shot on a "bad guy" (of the two legged variety) is very important. Your experiences may vary

For self defense, cocking a revolver is generally a bad idea. The fact that the 442 can't be cocked is a benefit, since it makes it impossible for a prosecutor to argue that you cocked the gun and then accidentally shot someone (self defense is not available as a legal defense if you are charged with negligently shooting someone).

Back when police departments still issued revolvers, some issued double action only guns for just this reason.

I have and use both DAO and SA/DA.....I can use either equally well...and as long
as you are careful not to get junk in the action, you should be ok.
I like the idea of being able to cock and use SA if I want to....of course
one has to know that in an emergency situation, it is unlikely that you will
have time to make an "aimed" single action shot.

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government--lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." --Patrick Henry